Novak Djokovic will get a quick change at revenge Saturday in the semifinalist at the Cincinnati Masters 1000. The Serb who lost to Juan Martin Del Potro earlier this month in the bronze medal match at the London Olympic, will get a crack at the Argentine again tomorrow on the hardcourts.

“He won that match,” Djokovic said today of the rematch. “It happens. It’s a sport. You lose, you win, but the most important
thing is to try to move on and become even better and even stronger from those experiences and try to win. So tomorrow will be my opportunity to win against him.”

Del Potro, who has been troubled by a left wrist injury – not the wrist he had surgery on – isn’t terribly concerned about the injury with the US Open coming up.

“The good thing,” he said. “I’m not getting worse so I can play. But anyway, I want to wait what’s the doctor says, because I have experience on my other wrist, and I don’t want to heard many people talking about my wrist.

“I will visit with him after this tournament and he will tell me what is the plan for the next tournament. But I’m very confident with my doctor. He’s the best of the world about wrist, so after here I will talk with him and we will see.”

The winner of the first semiifinal will be play a Swiss in the Sunday final. Roger Federer can clinch the No. 1 seed for the US Open by beating his friend and countryman Stanislas Wawrinka in the second semifinal.

Federer has won 10 of 11 meetings against Stan including eight straight and their last 12 sets.

“I’m happy for him he’s done so well, because he has had a rough spell since the French Open where I thought he played amazing,” Federer said after reaching his 12th semifinal in 13 events this year. “I have a tough matchup with him. It’s going to be a difficult one. Seems like he’s playing really well. I’m just excited for him and for me two Swiss guys can make it to the semis here in Cincinnati. t’s great.”

Federer had little trouble with Mardy Fish beating the American 6-3, 7-6. In the afternoon, Wawrinka went three sets before putting away Milos Raonic 2-6, 7-6, 6-4.

In the upset of the day, Serena Williams had her 19-match win streak snapped by Angelique Kerber. Calling it the biggest win of her career, Kerber knocked out the surging American 6-4, 6-4. And the victory comes just a few weeks after the the German beat Venus at the Olympics.

“So of course I beat both of them in the last, I don’t know, four weeks,” Kerber said. “For sure it’s a great feeling because they are both so great players and won so many Grand Slams in the past. They still playing so well. It’s great that I could beat both of them.”

Said Serena, “She didn’t do too much that threw me off. Her game is pretty straightforward. You know what to expect. She’s getting a lot of balls back. She played really well today. I think she served more up the T than I expected. I really hope to play her again in New York and be ready for that one.”

While Serena lost Venus rose up to beat US Open champion Sam Stosur in three sets to reach her first semifinal since 2010 She’ll play Li Na in the Saturday semifinals.

“Well, I’d like to think that this is only the beginning for me of more semifinals,” Venus said. “Of course I’m going to stay focused and try to make it a final match as well. So for me I’d like to take it a lot further. I haven’t played a lot since 2010, so this is awesome for me already.”

If Delpotro can nestle himself in topo 4 and rafa falls out.
Rafa will be in big trouble. He will have to go deep to even get back because he aint winning tourneys needing to win against 3top 4players. But non of them are or can.

The Roger Vs Fish match was very enthralling. Though Fish played really well but couldn’t stand up to Roger since he played at a really different level. It is some of the best Tennis I have seen from Roger since long. With the form he is in at the moment, I tip him to win this one if everything holds. Real danger can only come from Novak in the finals. Other than that, Roger is winning this tournament.

Michael i would not be so quick to put Novak in the final just like that,as i would not take Delpo for granted,he too is a great hard court player,and seems to be getting back into great form,he also beat Novak a couple of weeks ago at the olympics to take a bronze medal,and also pushed Roger very close,he is more than capable of creating problems,so his confidence will be high against both players,i only hope his wrist is not becoming a factor again,as im hoping he can make some noise at the USO,as it would be nice to see some other players getting in the mix.

Just rewatched the tape of Roger’s match. His serve helped him stay in the 2nd set. On the ground, Fish had better of Roger. I’m wondering if Roger can’t win rallies against Fish on baseline, how he would fare against Novak or Delpo. I would give a better change to the winner of Novak vs Delpo to take the title.

Collin put it this way, i sincerely hope that neither wrist will become an injury factor,i dont want to see another player having to pull out of the USO at this stage it was dissapointing enough as a fan to see Rafa pulling out,whatever peoples feelings are about the guy.

to skorocel: a) if djokovic wins the tournament federer has to reach the final

or:

nothing, if djokovic doesn’t win the tournament

of course, if federer wins and djoko looses in the semis (best scenario possible) that would give federer a bigger points diference between one and two; haven’t done the maths but it should be around 1000 points in this last scenario

in this last case, i think federer stays number one even if he looses first round at at the us open

maybe someone can add all the specific numbers and present a several of “what if” scenarios

cheers, hope i helped

other done not using caps, i think this post a error free in terms of the english language, so jane, you can your magnifying glass away :))))))

Actually federer needs to only reach the final to stay number 1. The only way novak can become number 1 is if he wins the tournament and federer loses his semi final match. Even if fed were to lose to novak in the final he would still remain #1.

I doubt Roger will be on the final, he could give wawrinka this match as he did for haas @ halle or wawrinka will play his best since this is rare chance for him to stand on the final. Everything can happen in tennis.

I’m pulling for Novak, as usual. I only wish he would realize something. Jesus cannot bless us as He wants to if we are living contrary to His Word. “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication.” l Thes. 4:3

Hard to say what will happen in the Nole/Delpo match. For Nole fans, this is his 16th straight semifinal on outdoor hard courts, and he’s 29/2 on hard for the year – definitely his best surface. But Delpo loves it too. Could be a very good match.

actually i agree with the “abstaining from fornication” part of Tootie’s post.

it’s never a good plan to complicate life that way for a variety of practical and sensible reasons. but no one knows that Djokovic is doing just that do they? i mean, i have not seen jelena in his box but at this point, i’m not terribly worried. Now, if she misses US Open? then, i’ll start really wondering. i ofc dont know, but she doesn’t seem like the type to turn a blind eye for long, if at all.

big semi coming up……can’t wait! and, Alberto Contador is riding the time trial first stage of the Vuelta de Espana today after his ban. great day for ‘conty!!’ no more mopey, grumpy ‘carlo’ for me…..yay!

may the best man win in cincy; and best woman….of course :D

also qualifiers are now going at it in Winston-Salem, New Haven, and pretty soon, Dallas.

Interesting matchup, think Del Potro has won the last two encounters against Djokovic. He needs to go for his serve here. Was watching highlights of DelPo in 2009. His serve was so much bigger then(consistently hitting 130s) and even touching 140. Haven’t seen him serve that well after his comeback.. That is what he needs to go to the next level..

Nice point! Some great defence from JMDP. Actually, Delpo is still hammering the ball – just not making any winners on the backhand side. Forehand is still mighty, though. Nole’s first serve percentage hasn’t been good, but he is doing very well on his second serve, winning 71% of points on it so far.

Congrats Nole fans on reaching the final,after he broke in that 1st set,the match had an air of inevitability about it,i thought this was going to be the match of the tourney,promised so much,but failed to live upto expectations,im a bit dissapoined about Delpo here.

Nole’s faced loads of bps lately, but he’s managed to fight them all off. I think it Toronto he fended off 25 of 26 bps, or therein? It’s living dangerously, but at least he’s fighting them off.

Nice exchange at the net. :) Hope Delpo rests the other wrist. It seemed manageable in his matches but maybe it plays on him psychologically given what he went through with the other wrist. All that power takes it’s toll I guess.

Great that Nole has defended all his points from last year again here (though I know that it’s an illusion. ;)).

60 out of last 66 break points have been saved by Nole in the hard court season. There itself we can see how brilliant he has been on this surface and what separates him from the rest of the players on tour. I really believe his ability to play aggressively on pressure points is his biggest strength and the reason why he has been able to win 4 GS in last 2 years.
Novak Djokovic: The Toughest Competitor! http://tinyurl.com/9beatez

Thanks for posting that stat, Lou_tennisfan; I knew that Nole’s break point save stat was remarkable lately, just didn’t know what it was. A little scary that he’s facing that many, but I guess how he comes through them is what matter most in the end.

Danm Wawrinka! He saved BP in 4 service games out of 6 including 0-40 3 set points down. Where did this came from?!?! His first serve is awrsome today and Fed is serving poorly, but the match has excelent rallies.
Thought Fed should have this set in the bag already.

Love this court as well Dari. You know when you hit a perfect shot that you will win the point. And they create some angles and balls so flat that is awesome. Pure instincy, reflex and shot selections at it’s best.

Based on current form of opponents for Fed and Djokovic in the two SF matches, Stan’s the more inform player, which is good for Fed. He doesn’t need an easy match to prepare for Djokovic. He needs to get pumped up and keep the adrenaline flowing when he meets Djokovic.

Fed will win this match in two tough straight sets, which is good prep for tomorrow.Go Fed.

So this is another theory of Dave that has been tested and oked.
His friend and countrymen Stan the man could stay with him for quit some time. Fed serving below 50%!
Not taking his first breakchance after 7 gone bad.

Wel tomorrow he will be ready for Djokerino. Who thinks he is threal deal but TMF is around and determined to win CinCIn city and the big Apple.

Federina is struggling against someone who he could beats easily, too bad the stadium roof can’t be closed like Wimbledon. He hasn’t an easy draw, it is best for the old rage to finish his match fast, or his old age would makes him suffer.

I could understand that why Fed doesn’t like Super Saturday, because the old man wants rest for the US Open final. Long matches are doing harms to the old lady! Fed would gets sends back to the nursing home at the Cincy final.

It doesn’t really matter who is #1 and is #3, Nole and Andy will be in same half, that is the way it is.
Last year Nole was #1 and Roger #3 and they played SF and so on and so on ……are you following me?

Can’t wait to get a look at the US Open draw, it should definitely be interesting. Technically, Roger could wind up with either Murray or Ferrer in his half with Rafa out.

But looking ahead to tomorrow, if Roger serves like he did today, Novak will eat up his service games. If Rog raises his percentage, though, considering the way both players have been playing this week, it could be a hell of a match.

The Djokovic-Delpo match looked promising until Delpo got moody about his wrist. Kudos to Djokovic for keeping up the intensity and remaining mentally tough and focused. They spent just 8 minutes less on court playing 109 points than Federer and Wawrinka spent playing 151 points. Interesting to find out whether Djokovic or Federer ran more today.

I don’t expect how Federer served and returned today against his buddy Wawrinka today (though stan played quite well) will indicate how he is going to play against Djokovic tomorrow. I hope he shows up with his A-Game tomorrow (I would have preferred if Federer had played Toronto and built on his momentum instead of going on a mini-vacation/break).

Whatever happens tomorrow, Federer will remain No.1 in the ATP rankings (52 week rankings) for the next three weeks until at least after the US Open. Of course Federer would love to win Cincinnati again and of course beat Djokovic.

But Federer should try to make it a grinding three set contest to push Novak’s body to the limit and force him to recover before the US Open.
Tomorrow will be young Djokovic’s 16th match since Olympics started. Federer did something similar in February/March; playing 18 matches straight weeks in Davis Cup-Rotterdam (won)-Dubai (won)-Indian Wells (won)-Miami.

If Federer reaches the semifinal of US Open, he remains the No.1 player even if Djokovic defends his title. But Federer should try to extract as many points as possible here and in USO. If Federer can win Cincinnati and the US Open, it would virtually seal the year-end No. 1 ranking as long as he does not get badly injured during the Fall. If Djokovic wins these two events, then there wil be a big battle for points in the Fall events.